My Morphing Perspective of Jesus ... and Thus of Us!

Sooooo ... what have I come to believe about Jesus? I'll share it with you, even as it's morphing, emerging, developing ... and this is what I see for today, for now -- awaiting further revelation...!

Many folks already know that I believe that all are saved. Puts me on the spiritual hit-list with some. Put me on the prayer list (as in "pray for her deceived and dangerous soul!") with others.

But I've come to see something way-beyond that ... I believe that we never had anything to be saved *from* in the first place. I no longer believe that we are separated from God, or ever were. In fact, it now strikes me as absurd! How the heck did we think we could manage to get separated from Omnipresence in the first place...? God permeates all that is -- in Him we live and move and have our being ... we are only alive because He enlivens us.

I don't believe in original sin, either. Much of the historical Christian church never swallowed that theory. Eastern Orthodoxy doesn't uphold it. I see "original blessing" instead. I see that the Garden of Eden is a parable of us, in the "womb" ... and we had to be born, to experience the sense of "separation" (even as each infant must), in order to experience the perception of being apart from God ... in order to return to God. We come from God, we return to God. (The parable of the prodigal son is a lovely story that expounds on this -- taught by Jesus, who wanted us to see something deeper than the words He conveyed.) Nor do I any longer entertain the notion that "God cannot be near sin."

I'll expound on that a bit ...

~ I see the "fall" as the acquiring of an intensified sense of ego/duality in mankind (there is historic/archaeological/geological evidence to show that a sudden and massive "shift" occurred in mankind, 6,000 years ago -- prior to that violence was merely accidental).

~ I see the story of Adam and Eve as just that -- a story. A parable. Jesus only taught in parables, and He says He did what He saw the Father doing ... I see the Father inspiring folks to write parables in the Hebrew scriptures as well. "Adam" and "Eve" are not first names -- they're never again used in scripture. Instead, they mean, "mankind" and "mother of life", respectively. I see them as symbolic of human-kind, at some point in history -- showing us what happened when humanity experienced a significant shift in ego-focus.

~ If God cannot be near sin, then why does He go to them, after they "fell" and sinned? THEY hide, but He goes a-looking. They have shame, but He has compassion. He talks with them, takes care of them, helps them to face what they've done (though they blame-shift!), and He provides for them. He also warns them of the consequences of their choice to "eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (i.e., to see from an egoic perspective of judging everything as good or evil - or duality). [As a sidebar, God warns Eve (woman) that Adam (man) will seek to rule over her as his ego-reaction. If it had been a command, God would've addressed Adam. And, God warns Eve (woman) that her ego-reaction will be to seek to find her sense of identity/security in him (man).]

~ Regarding the belief that we are separated from God: David says, "where can I go where you are not - if I go to the abode of the dead, You are there." Even in the most "God-forsaken" place, God is THERE.

~ Paul says, "nothing created [which includes you, and me, and every human, AND our wills] can separate us from the love of God." And God IS love. Love and God are synonymous.

~ Then there's the prayer of Jesus, on the night before He let Himself be killed (He laid down His life for a purpose..!). The most fervent thing on His mind, was that we would know that we are One ... with each other, and with Jesus, and with God. That we would be one AS Jesus and the Father are One. I notice that the Prodigal-Father's answer to the son (who lacked awareness of his connection to the Father) was, "My son, you are always with Me. Everything I have is yours." I believe He says that to each and every one of us..!

~ And further, when Jesus was supposedly "full of our sin", and Jesus supposedly felt the separation as God supposedly turned His back on Jesus -- the *reality* is that "God was IN Christ, reconciling the world to Himself." AT that moment. FURTHER, the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world..! WE just had to have it play out in history, before our eyes, so we could *get* it...! (& we still don't!) [Regarding Jesus crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" ... He was calling out the first line of Psalm 22. They didn't number or title their psalms. They used the first line ... and all Jewish men memorized all the psalms ... as Jesus cried the first line out, they all knew what the rest of the psalm said ... go read it for yourself, particularly v. 27 on, so you can see precisely what He was wanting to convey to them, as His dying breaths prevented Him from saying much more than that.]

So, what if...?

~ What if Jesus doesn't want to be worshipped, any more than He wanted worship then?

~ What if WE took His life and teaching, and made Him into a tangible image of God -- which is something the Israelites were forbidden to do...?

~ What if the "anti-Christ" is to put the historical Jesus in the place of Christ? (anti doesn't mean "against" so much as "instead of")

~ What if we've focused on Jesus, instead of The Christ?

~ What if the Christ is OUR identity? We are "in Christ". Jesus is our elder brother, but there is only one Son of God -- all of humanity as One.

Next -- what I'm seeing that Jesus demonstrated/demonstrates to us...

Shalom, Dena

Questioning Some Assumptions about Jesus...

Do any of y'all have any clue how long I've sat on this post ...? Yeah, I've shared tidbits, but not put it all "out there" in one fell swoop like I'm about to do (both today and tomorrow) ...

Recalling yesterday's recitation of the Spirit-led paradigm shifts I experienced over the past few years (and go read 'em now if you didn't yet!) ... HOW does all of this affect how I see and understand Jesus Christ..?

Backing up a bit, my previous view of God and Jesus was somewhat of a "bad cop/good cop" perspective. God was the angry "bad" cop ... and Jesus was the placating "good" cop. And they had this shtick down pat. God was pissed, and ready, even eager, to smite folks ... and we were all sitting ducks. The solution, was to get Jesus to be between me and God. Y'know, keep my entire being behind His holy silhouette. No arms, legs, or (egads!) head sticking out, like a smite-target. As I've heard Paul Young say, "quoting" God, "Y'know I love You, Son, but some of Your friends ...!" (envision God frowning, with arms crossed)

Yeah, my previous view of God was that He was rather schizophrenic ... never knew where I stood with Him ... was He mad? was I ok? should I hide? anybody got any spare fig-leaves..?

I don't know about anybody else, but I had to fire that old "god" ... so that the real God could emerge. Turns out He was always there ... always in everything, using it all to continue to draw me to Himself, and into all truth.

So, what about Jesus...? What do I do with Jesus? The old story of "God's justice must be appeased, someone's got to die ... so you'd better accept Jesus as your savior, or else pay for your own sins in endless torment/separation" just doesn't hold up for me anymore. And yet, I knew I had to come to terms with who Jesus is ... and who/what the Christ is. So, I asked God to show me. Y'know, when in doubt, go to the Source...!

Here are some things I just cannot ignore about Jesus:

~ He says He came to show us the Father ... and yet, I notice that we prefer to focus on Jesus. It's like we look at a sign to a destination, and focus on the sign, rather than going to the destination.

~ He said He's the WAY to the Father (I see this as an example - showing us that the Way to the Father is to realize that we are connected to the Father)... and yet we focus on Him, instead.

~ He said it would be *better* if He goes away ... and yet we continue to focus on His historical personality.

~ He speaks of the Abundant Life for all -- and we prefer to create an exclusive club of Christianity (have we not noticed how He came against the exclusivity of the Pharisees? And have we not noticed how Christianity resembles the Pharisees far more than Jesus?).

It seems to me that we've created a cult that focuses on the personality of Jesus, rather than hearing & heeding what He actually taught.

I just no longer believe that God had to kill God, in order to appease God. Doesn't pass the straight-face test for me.

Here's how I think we got to that:

~ Israel came out of the pagan practices of human sacrifice. It's not a far cry to go from tossing first-borns and virgin daughters into "angry volcano gods" to keep them from destroying your fields and villages, to thinking you heard God say, "sacrifice your only son." (Actually -- as Tim King said during this conference, the god that told Abraham to do this was "El" -- the generic god. As in, I have an El, you have an El, everybody has an El. This would be the god Abraham was familiar with, back in Ur. BUT -- the God that provided the ram, and who said to not kill Isaac, was Yahweh -- the Creator God -- the one who was revealing Himself to Abraham, as he could bear it.)

~ Moses gave forth the commandments from God -- very simple laws. Practically kinder-garten level rules -- how to be nice. Here's how you love God, and here's how you love other folks. Be nice.

~ When Israel returned from Babylonian captivity, the priests/scribes wanted to get the folks in line ... to obey in order to make the Messiah come, and return them to the Davidic glory days (short-sighted view of the Messiah, huh? Abraham was told it would be as a blessing to ALL people on earth). So, the priests/scribes added to the text (this wasn't seen as wrong) ... heaping on minute details to the law ... complicating a simple set of guidelines into achingly stringent requirements and an entire measure-up system (the Spirit is simple - the ego is complex). I mean seriously, read Leviticus. Does it even sound like God to you? Sounds more like a bunch of power-hungry egoic men sitting around, devising ways to make folks straighten up ("Add this abomination!" "Oh, wait, we have to make that forbidden!" "Let's not forget that women are uber-unclean - make them go away while they're all PMSy." "Don't forget this requirement." "Wait, we already mentioned that." "No problem -- say it again!").

~ And so, a complicated and blood-saturated sacrificial system was developed over time ... as a way of "atoning" for the sins committed by those people (as IF they could keep from violating various laws, just by waking up and breathing!). Here's where we get the "scape-goat" ... the animal that had everyone's sins transferred to it, and then it was cast out of the camp, to die. And the guilt-absolution lasted until the people felt good and guilty again ... had to be repeated every year (though there were numerous daily sacrifices being made ... scores of animals were slaughtered over guilt).

~ But then, speaking through the prophets, God later says, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice!" What if the sacrificial system was never God's idea, but man's? What if God met them where they were, in their egoic insistence that "something's got to die!" What if God led them from human, to animal sacrifice, as an improvement ... and eventually to letting them devise a "final" sacrifice to end all sacrifices for once and for all? But, what if that wasn't God's requirement, so much as man's insistence..?

~ What if we humans interpreted Jesus' death as God's sacrifice for us? What if we framed it in our egoic insistence of needing a scape-goat?

~ What if God always forsaw this happening -- for the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. I see that it was always done -- we were always reconciled.

~ I see that Jesus didn't come to accomplish anything, but to demonstrate what had always been..! I see that this is part of the "much more" that Jesus wanted to show His followers, but they couldn't then bear it. I see that most cannot bear it now. And, if we think that we've already arrived at all truth, then we're not going to be open to the much more. May we be willing to increase our "bearability."

Next, I'll go into what I've come to believe, about Jesus ...

Shalom, Dena

What I Said in Baytown ... (I *Think*!)

These things always begin with the very best of intentions ... my purpose is to deliver a message, to stay on topic, and to do so within the allotted timeframe.

I try ... really.

Not sure that I managed to accomplish any of that ... but I prepared, I showed up, I opened my mouth ... and then it's like I rode something that came through me ... or out of me, or both (hard to tell).

When all was said and done, I'm not sure I stayed on topic (unless the topic is "life"), and I sure 'nuff went over my time. By twenty minutes.

Ok, at least no one was looking at their watch, or catapulting rotten produce in my direction. From my vantage point, people were engaged, we were connecting, and something bigger than all of us happened. I call it good. And it's not that I'm so special (well, I am, but so is everyone else!) ... it's just that I'm willing to blurt. Even to be foolish. I highly recommend losing one's reputation -- very liberating!

So, I thought I'd try to relate what I said ... or at least what my notes indicate what I was *supposed* to say ... and what I vaguely remember saying ... and then I'll have to watch/listen to the recording, once the link becomes available (which, of course I shall foist - I mean *share*).

I started out with a couple of my most favorite, and most life-impacting, quotes (neither of which originated with me, both of which are, appropriately enough, anonymous):

"We turn to God when our foundations are shaking, only to discover that it's God who's shaking them.

"The unanswered questions aren't nearly as dangerous as the unquestioned answers."

Yeaaaaaah. :)

I then said, "I stand before you, a woman in transition. If you've ever given birth, or attended a birth, you know that transition is the most uncomfortable, and even most frightening, part of the birthing process. It's where the woman says, "Kill me now - just get this over with!" Yes, fear is strong ... and yet, I have experienced that the most intense fear and pain occur right before new life emerges, making it all worthwhile! I notice that perfect loves casts out all fear, including, I believe, the fear of God -- which is merely the beginning of all wisdom -- not where we're meant to remain. We're meant to mature into perfect love.

"Take whatever the Spirit illumines to YOU in what I have to say here today. Never take another's word for your own. The Word of God, which was with God in the beginning, is not a black leather-bound collection of books ('twern't no Bibles with God in the beginning!). The Word of God is the Logos, the Dabhar, which is the essence of God, the nature of God, the activating Wisdom of God, that which spoke all into existence ... that which is the Still, Small Voice within you. Heed THAT."

I then shared a bit of my history ... well, it was supposed to be just a *bit*. Turned out being much more ... how my father came to know Christ ... how I became a follower of Jesus ... how I was the perfect child (cough-cough!) ... how I rebelled at age 18 (becoming bulimic, started drinking/drugging, became promiscuous) ... how I struggled for 21 years with that addiction... how I went from licentious to frigid within marriage ... how our marriage suffered ... how the children came (despite being medically impossible for me to conceive) ... how I endured the "seminary/ordination" years in our former church ... how I did my best to both recover from bulimia, AND conform to all the shoulds/oughts that were imposed on me from our church leadership ... and how I failed miserably all around, how my husband learned to love me withOUT expecting me to change -- and how I found true and permanent healing. I went into a lot more about my bulimic and sexual dysfunction than I had intended ... but it turned out to be something that others said they needed to hear (confirmed later). LOL, part of my brain was yammering, "Do you REALLY want to go into all of this?!? You've got a lot to unpack here!" I just kept on surfing ...

I dwelled a bit on the "Great Church Kick-Out" of 6 years ago ... and of the devastation/liberation I felt ... how I had the spiritual wind knocked out of me, and how I prayed my most desperate and most sincere prayer up to that point, "God, START ME OVER! I don't know what I believe anymore! Show me what's of man, and what's of God -- I want Truth at all cost!" When you pray that prayer, you're pretty much signing up for a wiiiiiild roller coaster ride. Buckle up, and hang on!

I then spoke of the succession of paradigm shifts that catapulted me from Fear to Love:

~ From Legalism to Grace (from the system of "measure-up" to trust).

~ From Self-despising to Self-LIKE (how astonishing to discover that God not only loves me, because He *has* to, but He LIKES me and made me as I am on *purpose*!).

~ From Hierarchy to Equality (in my marriage, with my children, with all others).

~ From the Institution to House Church (and we then thought "This is IT!" LOL! Silly us! You can get the person out of the institution, but it's a whole 'nother thing to get the institution out of the person!).

~ From only reading the Bible, to reading all manner of things ... enter: "The Shack". The experience of reading all of my own subversive thoughts on paper! Bless Paul Young! And bless his visit to our home in August of '07, when he said things that rocked my world, and launched me into the "beautiful heresy" (to coin a phrase from my friend Brian Smith - his blog link is to the left, hint-hint!).

~ From a traditional "hell" to ultimate reconciliation (i.e., "all saved"). This was a wrenchingly painful transition, in which I hugely feared being deceived, and prayed not to be, daily! I lost much sleep, half my hair, and nearly all my friends over this one! Whew!

~ From a futurist perspective ("Jesus will come back one day"), to an "all fulfilled" perspective. It was in being frustrated to discover that Preterists and Universalists despised each other (c'mon, dudes!), that I stumbled upon Presence, International (my peeps!). Their perspective of life is a catalyst to me feeling more alive than ever before!

[Note: during this time, I continuously asked for a "sign" that God was leading me ... and God kept graciously giving 'em to me! Some of them are uncanny ... I shared two of them with the group ...]

~ From "Satan" as personal being, to "satan" as the adversarial nature of our own ego (both individual ego and collective ego).

~ From the Bible as "the inerrant and infallible Word-a-God", to The Bible as the unfolding/progressive/evolutionary story of mankind (as it played out through the consciousness of Israel). I now see that the Bible is the "three steps forward - two steps backward" story of a people coming to know who God is. With experience trumping comprehension (though we've had a rude and stubborn penchant for doctrinalizing and dogmatizing some of those backward steps!). I see much of the Bible as written from the perspective of the ego -- with humans projecting their own insanity upon God, "God hath said." Oh really? Is that true? I've learned to go with the God I'm experiencing, rather than the god others have told me about.

~ From the sense of separation-from-God-and-all-others, to a sense of Oneness with all that IS. PanENtheism ... God in all, in everything, permeating all of creation (really, what did we think was sustaining us?). I don't see separation anymore ... thought I see that it's a normal perception of the spirit-man who is having a human experience. It's even a necessary stage of growth, of evolution if you will (let's redeem that word!). Thus, I no longer believe in the theory (theory!) of "original sin". Much of the Christian world never did buy into that concept...

~ From the perspective of living the "Christian Life" (which Jesus never mentioned), to the awareness of the "Abundant Life" (which Jesus said He came to bring). I actually believe that insisting on the former will keep one from experiencing the latter. I had to shed the former, in order to have the latter. Christ led me right out of Christianity ... it's my history/heritage (& I do not despise having been there, any more than a 6 yo should despise having been 5) ... but as I grew, it became too small, too tight, and it pinched. Had to shed it.

And throughout it all, it's been about moving from negativity/fear, into positivity/Love. Who knows what's next?!?

Well, what's next for blogging, is that I'll share how all of this affects my perspective/understanding of Jesus Christ. Stay tuned...!

Shalom, Dena

Just My Thoughts De Jour ...

I do believe that I'm emerging a bit from my jet-laggged, sleep-deprived cave, at least enough to put out some thoughts ... this is along the lines of what I shared at the conference in Baytown (the link to the talks will be provided in a few weeks -- and I'll be sure to share them here!).

Meanwhile, here are some thoughts I shared "elsewhere" ...

I honestly am beginning to believe that Christianity made a colossal mistake in creating a cult based on the personality of Jesus, rather than recognizing the enormity of what He was really teaching ... He had "much more" to show us, that only the Spirit can lead us into ... and we settled instead for making this an extension of the sacrificial system...!

AISI, without the devil, without original sin, there IS no Christianity.

Since I no longer see the former, I no longer see the point of the latter.

There are so very many things I now see as "training wheels" that I used at one time, or at least *thought* I needed, which are now very much getting in the way of the journey ... and so I've been tapping into such a huge perspective-shift, that there are numberless nuances to explore here ...! I'm in the very thick of it myself. Exploring "Who is Jesus ... Who/What is The Christ" feels like THE biggie for those of us with a Christian history.

As we discover that much of what we've been taught in Christianity is merely the traditions of man, we go through a stage (or several stages) of disillusionment ... even defragmentation. I know of scores of post-Christians who would claim to now be agnostic, if not atheist. Perhaps a necessary time of UNlearning ... and certainly God is big enough to handle it. Detoxing is so critical, and it can last longer than we may be prepared for ...

For me (& each one must have his own experience, rather than sucking vicariously from another) ... I'm discovering that Christianity, in forming a cultic mindset around the personality of Jesus, missed the bigger perspective of what constitutes The Christ. I am finding that scripture is not inerrant (as humans declare) but is useful (which is what it declares about itself). And so I use it, rather than worshipping it. It's the training wheels to bring me to the concept of salvation, of the here-and-now-Kingdom. But, having come to that awareness, having been born again to the spiritual reality, I find that the more tangible training wheels *can* get in the way of riding out the adventure of the Abundant Life.

What I know *about* God was indeed shown to me via Christianity, and the scriptures ... but my experiential-knowing God Himself has been brought to me by the very Spirit of God Himself, within me.

It's as if my former understanding was the larvae/pupae stages of consciousness ... but once we emerge from the cocoon, the freedom to fly beckons us to go forth, rather than to remain in the no-longer-fitting "safety" of that now-decaying cocoon. We move from milk to meat, from the womb (even of the Garden) to life, from immaturity to maturity. Everything we see in the physical speaks to us of the greater reality of the spiritual ... that which does not embrace change, shrivels and dies.

I shall try to share more from my speaking-notes, tomorrow ... but if not, soon. I don't know how much free time I'll have from Thursday - Saturday ... and then Mark and I are meeting at the hotel near the Portland airport ... for two nights of a very focused and specific agenda...! We will be saying "I see you" in a whole nother, much-neglected (due to travel) way! ;)

Shalom & Namaste ~
Dena

Howdy to All Y'all...!

Greetings from Texas!

I get to talk that way since I'm here ... and as I lived here in my youth, and once you've lived in Texas, you've got a bit of irretrievable Texas IN you. 'Course, I've lived in a couple-dozen places, so I guess I'm a bit of a walking menagerie ... in more ways than one.

Someone recently referred to me as spiritually-promiscuous ... as it appears to them that I'm changing my beliefs on a daily basis (like socks, she said, LOL!). Yes, it could look that way ... but transcendence incorporates "old" truth, even as it expands to add in "new" truth .... more "both/and" than "either/or".

I'm sure enjoying this respite of being surrounded by so many other "heretics"! While many of us have differing perspective, even from each other, there's a refreshing sense of acceptance, inclusion ... and a lack of alarm when someone says that they see a thing differently ... in fact, it's appreciated as a fresh aspect to consider. Quite nice. I could live this way. But then I'd want to go share the good stuff with someone...!

I've had the interesting (& new) experience of having someone introduce themself to me and say, "Oh yes, I know who you are - I read your blog." One lovely woman said that she's here because her friend reads this, and encouraged her to come ... And it's always wonderful to link up again with old friends. This is, by far, the most loving and inclusive group of folks I've ever hung out with...!

I'll be speaking first thing tomorrow morning ... my thoughts are coming together, but who knows what will actually come out of my mouth...?!? Can't wait to find out!

Shalom, Dena

The Crazy Ones ...!

To all my fellow cohorts -- you know who you are...!
(Got this from my co-crazy friend, Annie!)

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine.
They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world,
are the ones who do.

Insanity is a talent -- I always knew this!

Shalom, Dena

Update ...

Oops - I lost Tuesday...!

(Typing this at 12:05 AM, Wednesday.)

My blogging may be sketchy for the next couple of weeks ... got some traveling coming up. I'm hoping to purchase a used/refurbished laptop tomorrow (supposedly user-ready - jump on it and ride!), so that I can keep up with blogging and emails (I dread returning from a trip to 500+ emails!).

So, to catch y'all up on my gallavanting:

- On Thursday I leave for Baytown, Texas, near Houston. I've been asked to speak at a conference hosted by the Sojlander Road Fellowship ... a group of open-hearted folks who believe that all are saved, all is fulfilled, and all are one. Tim King is the keynote speaker, and he graciously gave up one of his time-slots so I could speak. My topic will be: "Jesus and The Christ -- how are they alike, and how are they distinct?" Or something like that. This is something I'm currently exploring ... it feels like THE BIGGIE...! Have put it off for some time now ... but I got cornered, and 'tis time. I confess to ya'll, that I feel out of my element ... I'm a stay-at-home mother-of-multitudes ... who thinks a lot and types fast, and blurts what comes to mind ... and asks pestiferous questions, and "Snope's" everything, and tries really hard to grasp the swirling notions that well, swirl around in the vast internal universe...! Who am I to "play with the big-boys?!?"

I've been preparing, but every time I get close to making an outline, I get nailed or derailed ... the sense I keep getting is that I am just to share my own story, my experience, and my questions. I'm not going there to give answers (sheesh - some of these folks have PHD's!) ... I'm there to invite questions ... to encourage folks to go to God with them. To LIVE the questions and EXPERIENCE the answers. Which will likely defy words, as all good answers tend to do...!

The conference is going to be both telecast and recorded ... so I sure hope I say something worth memorializing, LOL! If you want to sign up for the telecast, it may be too late, but check with Kevin Beck: kevin@presence.tv

Otherwise, here's their website -- and I'll be sure to link the recordings when I get them.

- I return Monday (as Mark leaves for a business trip - we'll share an hour in the airport, in passing - must try to not get arrested in doing so), and then I leave again next Thursday, for my first-ever board meeting of Presence, International, in Colorado. Can't WAIT to hear what Tim King has to share there...! If you've not been following his blog, Post-Christian, you'll want to, as he unpacks what transpired in the past two extraordinary trips to the Middle East (he just spent time there with Brian McLaren and Shane Claiborne, among 17 others). Follow His blog HERE. I'll return that Sunday ... just in time to launch into a flurry of painting...!

Soooo, here's hoping that the laptop is a worthy investment, and that it's as user-friendly as the refurbishing-seller claims...!

Here's hoping I can continue blogging!

Shalom, Dena